Our design crush Christoph Niemann’s latest illustration for his Abstract Sunday art column in the New York Times Sunday Magazine takes the hand gesture game of “rock, paper, scissors” and updates it for the modern political era. If kids can use this classic game to settle disputes such as who gets the last piece of pie (I will fight you to the death if it’s strawberry rhubarb) or as a tie breaker in the game of shotgun aka who-gets-the-front-seat, then perhaps it can work for the gridlocked politicians in Washington by following some of these new additional gestures invented by Niemann. I feel like President Obama has been using a lot of “pretty please with a cherry on top.” Not permitted: the middle finger.

The genius lightning of designer Ji Lee struck again with his latest project Famous Objects from Classic Movies. This time, he makes an addicting online word and movie trivia game combined with the recent trend of minimalist movie posters. My fanboy enthusiasm for Lee’s works is well known among my friends: this latest makes me…

Finnish culture meets green building: Traditional Finnish building involves a lot of wood, and the Luukku House design combines this tradition with solar energy, high-efficiency windows, and other “green” features. The design has won awards from both the Finnish Timber Council and Solar Decathlon Europe. (via Good News from Finland)
Onsite composting for restaurants: GaiaRecycle’s new G-30H provides onsite composting for restaurants and schools… no need to have those food scraps hauled away (or — shudders — throw them in the trash).